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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24632953">Stories That Need Telling</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caivu/pseuds/Caivu'>Caivu</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>DCU, DCU (Comics), Lois Lane - Fandom, The Question (Comics)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Blood, Blood and Injury, Blood and Violence, Canon Compliant, Canon Related, Canon-Typical Violence, Continuity Nods, Fix-It of Sorts, Gap Filler, Gen, Mild Language, Multiverse</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 01:01:21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,639</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24632953</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caivu/pseuds/Caivu</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A small expansion to <em>Lois Lane</em> #11 from Renee's perspective.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Stories That Need Telling</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Ow," Renee groaned, clutching her shirt. It was a fitting statement, if flippant.</p><p>She lay in a fetal position, her own blood spreading from her abdomen in a puddle now wider than she was tall. She could feel the tunnel the bullet had carved through her, sitting in her gut as if it was a white-hot needle. She'd felt the same thing in Atlanta a while back, when Black Mask had shot her in the arm.</p><p>How many times <em>had</em> she been shot now, in total? Five? Six? She didn't know.</p><p>Kate had been with her in Atlanta. Had tourniqueted and bandaged her arm herself.</p><p>Oh God. Kate wouldn't know she was dead. Nor Benny. Nor her parents... for whatever that was worth. Such thoughts hit her harder than the acknowledgement she was dying. All those daily calls between her and Benny, damn near ordering each other to be safe. All those times Kate had come running when she was in danger. The irony...</p><p>Her killer was speaking.</p><p>"...ther step, I kill her now," she was saying. The Kiss of Death, an assassin hired to kill Lois Lane and who had, until being magicked here by Jessica Midnight, been in Lois's room to do just that. She had been teleported just as she fired. Must have been. And Renee had just happened to be in the way on the other end.</p><p>Renee groaned again. "Not sure it'll make much a dif... difference," she slurred.</p><p>Dammit. Was she really snarking <em>now? </em>She fought to keep her eyes open, to resolve her blurry vision into focus.</p><p>The assassin loomed over Renee in the middle of their literal summoning circle, her pistol still aimed and her bizarre bare-skull head grinning. Midnight stood frozen on the opposite side of the circle, unable to make a move in case the Kiss fired.</p><p>More words warbled in Renee's ears. She felt tired, so tired...</p><p>
  <em>Focus, focus.</em>
</p><p>"'And thus the Caitiff spake of the Fourth Lesson,'" the Kiss was quoting, "'and taught her of Murder.'"</p><p><em>That</em> got her attention. The Fifth Book of Blood.</p><p>Renee continued on without missing a beat, the words flowing from her as easily as her blood, and with just as much control. "'And she asked unto the Caitiff...'"</p><p>Her breathing was rough now, and she felt her pulse in her ears. Her eyelids flickered.</p><p>"'"...I know this lesson..."'" Renee continued, "'"...bu... but wh... ere is Mercy?"'"</p><p>The Kiss's aim faltered a fraction of an inch. "No," she rasped. "No. That's not right... how do you <em>know</em> that?"</p><p>She took a step forward. Out of the circle.</p><p>"You <em>can't</em> know that... <em>how do you know the words?"</em></p><p>In a flash, Midnight was on her, disarming her by wrenching her right arm backward and clamping her other hand on the Kiss's neck.</p><p>Renee let them fight, and reached for her phone. She had dropped it when she was shot. Maybe she could get an ambulance here. Maybe.</p><p>She stretched out a bloody hand. Just out of arm's reach.</p><p>With effort, she heaved herself over onto her stomach, fully soaking herself in blood. Across the room, Midnight and the Kiss continued to brawl, grunting and panting, rustles of cloth and blows on flesh.</p><p>Renee's phone began dinging a generic text alert. It was almost disappointing. All alone at the end of it all. No one to check on her even on accident.</p><p><em>Ding. Ding. Ding. </em>Many texts.</p><p>She pushed up onto her hands and knees, but could only hold herself there for a moment. It was enough. She collapsed and slid on the slick floor, just within range.</p><p>
  <em>Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding.</em>
</p><p>"Gotta be... kidding..." Renee panted. A string of bloody drool dripped from her mouth.</p><p>
  <em>why why oh why are you talking right now</em>
</p><p><em>it'll keep me alive god what the hell did she </em>hit<em> me with</em></p><p>"...I die... reading spam texts," she breathed, grabbing her phone, "I'm... gonna be... so ticked... <em>off</em>."</p><p>But it wasn't spam. Filling the screen were half a dozen or so frantic messages from Lois, screaming at her to put on her mask.</p><p>"Sure," Renee huffed. "Why the... hell... not..."</p><p>She pressed the gas capsule on her belt.</p><p>
  <em>maybe if there's nothing to ID me no one ever has to know</em>
</p><p>More talking somewhere in front of her. Out of the corner of her eye, she just managed to spot Midnight take a boot square to the jaw. She was tough, she didn't go out, but the Kiss had her gun again. Through the soft haze of the pseudoderm, Renee saw her take aim at Midnight's forehead.</p><p>"'I am the Rock...'" the Kiss said.</p><p>Again, words came to Renee unbidden. "'...stained with Man's blood,'" she finished.</p><p>And blacked out.</p><p>----</p><p>"...ot precisely as you'd planned," Midnight was saying.</p><p>Renee stirred, blinking. Even through the pseudoderm, she could tell the light was brighter. She was on her back and in no pain.</p><p><em>Well</em>, she thought. Some<em>thing went right, at least.</em></p><p>Renee sat up, glancing around. Still the same room, the bedroom they'd emptied out in their suite at the Drake. She was in the middle of the circle with... <em>someone</em> beside her, unconscious. Midnight stood near the door, her back to Renee, on the phone.</p><p>Renee activated the binary gas, blue plumes hissing from her belt.</p><p>"I'll look forward to meeting you in person shortly," said Midnight, and hung up. She turned to Renee, apparently not surprised to see her awake. "How do you feel?"</p><p>"Gimme a sec," Renee said, peeling off her mask. She wadded up the pseudoderm and placed it back in her belt pouch.</p><p>Beside her, still asleep, was the Kiss of Death, now with a face. A pretty one too, one she recognized with a pang of memory.</p><p>In another time, in another time<em>line</em>, this woman was Elicia Sanchez. A Daughter of Lilith, a nun of sorts for the Religion of Crime who recruited devotees by way of a type of escort service. Renee had known her for ten weeks, as she posed as a foreign service agent to keep tabs on a colonel who was in the process of being radicalized. Ten weeks, every Thursday night at an enormous Maryland mansion where Elicia worked. One of those weeks had been skipped, eight of them had been platonic, with Renee disguising her spying as nervousness, but the tenth... the night she had burned that house to the ground... that night had been very good.</p><p>Even now, Renee could remember her lips on Elicia's throat, Elicia's firm dancer's arms pulling her down onto the bed, and everything after. Whatever feelings had been there were now gone, but Renee could still appreciate a fine form.</p><p>She thought back to what she'd said to Kate in Gotham not even a week ago, as they lay sweating and spent in bed after being away from each other too long: <em>There's hope for us both. </em>Meaning they would each eventually find someone to have a fling with while away on their various missions. That was the whole point of this open relationship setup, wasn't it? Promiscuity, but emotional commitment to only each other at the same time?</p><p>They were both new to such things, but Lois's case had been the perfect opportunity to go for it in earnest, and a lack of success on that front, even a mutual one, was nothing to be ashamed of. They still had each other, if nothing else.</p><p>Now, Renee wondered if Elicia might fit the bill. Too soon to say... but she certainly <em>hoped.</em></p><p>"Huh," Renee said at last. "Well, it's not the <em>first</em> time I've woken up beside a hot blonde with no idea how I got there, so, y'know... guess I'm doing okay?"</p><p>"Lovely," said Midnight. "She jokes. If you're feeling that well, help me get our friend here into a proper bed. She'll be sleeping this off for quite a while, I expect."</p><p>Renee stood, feeling no worse for wear beyond a slight lightheadedness. She glanced down at herself, marveling at the dried swath of blood all down her front.</p><p>"Thanks, by the way," she said.</p><p>"Would've been happy to," said Midnight, "but it was actually <em>her</em>. And she may have saved you both."</p><p>----</p><p>Renee pondered Midnight's words as she showered, scrubbing all the dried blood from her skin. Elicia had saved her... somehow. Did <em>she</em> still feel what small spark of love had been between them in that past... life, timeline, whatever it had been? Who could say.</p><p>Her hair was still damp when she joined Midnight in the main room of their suite, and just as she was about to take a seat on one of the plush sofas, Lois barged in.</p><p>"Where is she? Where's Renee?" she demanded, her voice pitched high and her cadence quickened. "Let me see-"</p><p>"Right here, Lois," said Renee, spotting Sister Clarice entering. "Jessica-"</p><p>"Shut up!" Lois barked, and caught Renee in a bear hug. Renee returned it on instinct, taken aback. Lois seemed to sag in her arms, uncharacteristically unguarded and vulnerable.</p><p>"Just shut up," Lois repeated, softer. Her voice was choked. After a moment she sniffed and broke off, turning away while wiping her eyes with the heel of her hand.</p><p>Renee couldn't think of how to respond. "Lois," she said, "it's okay-"</p><p>"It isn't, it is <em>not</em> okay," said Lois. She rubbed her temples and sniffed again. "I spend <em>every</em> day ferreting out secrets," she continued, "and the result is that I keep too many myself. It's not because I believe <em>every</em> secret needs to be told, needs to be <em>published</em>. Some secrets <em>need</em> to be kept."</p><p>Her eyes had grown wide and watery. "But I got carried away. I didn't think it through. I was trying to be clever." She looked at Renee. "It almost cost you your life. I wouldn't have been able to forgive myself if it had."</p><p>Again, Renee was at a loss for what to say. This was a side of Lois she hadn't seen, but one she was thankful existed.</p><p>"We good?" Lois asked.</p><p>Renee gave a friendly grin. No sense beating her up more if she was willing to be that exposed and responsible. And it had hardly been <em>her</em> fault.</p><p>"Always," she said.</p><p>Lois gave a single nod, and in an instant her demeanor changed back to that of a professional reporter; her posture lifting, her jaw setting just so, the tears seeming to evaporate from her eyes in a blink. Renee had to suppress her grin from growing wider. Though more extreme coming from Lois, Renee had seen Kate make similar tonal shifts. Hell, she <em>herself</em> had done it plenty of times on the force. The familiarity, the <em>competency </em>that such an action demonstrated was reassuring.</p><p>"Jessica," Lois said.</p><p>"Ms. Lane," said Midnight, with a small bow of her head. "A pleasure to meet you, finally."</p><p>"Sorry I wasn't here when you arrived. How's our new friend doing?"</p><p>"She's sleeping," Renee said. "Whatever was done to her, Jessica undid it."</p><p>"It would be more accurate to say that she undid it herself when she saved Renee's life," said Midnight. "Either by fulfilling some precondition of the spell that made her, or, more plausibly, via transference of the negative energy sustaining her into positive life force."</p><p>"Anti-life to life," Lois said, pouring herself a coffee. "<em>Very</em> Religion of Crime, as far as that goes."</p><p>"Regardless," said Midnight, "The Kiss of Death is no more."</p><p>"Leaving us with <em>who</em>, exactly?" asked Sister Clarice.</p><p>Lois sipped her coffee. "Renee?"</p><p>Renee didn't bother asking why Lois thought <em>she</em> knew. "She's a Daughter of Lilith," Renee said, "effectively a nun in the Religion of Crime. Her name's-"</p><p>"Elicia Sanchez," said Elicia, from the bedroom doorway. Everyone turned to face her.</p><p>"You remember me," she said, striding slowly toward Renee. Lois and Midnight parted to let her pass. "I remember <em>you</em>. They cursed me because of you, because you would not turn. They punished me for my virtues."</p><p><em>They sure did</em>, Renee thought, though she knew whatever Elicia's punishment had been was worse than a mere bruised cheek. She wondered if she might have spared her back then, had she made love to her those other eight weeks, and without being turned herself. No way to know now.</p><p>Sister Clarice looked puzzled. "In a religion that venerates all sin," she asked, "what crime warrants such a curse?"</p><p>Elicia brushed Renee's left cheek.</p><p>"Love," she said, and kissed her.</p><p>For a moment, all of Renee's senses fell away, as if obliterated by yet more memories she had never experienced, and yet <em>had</em> experienced. Returning the kiss was automatic, almost involuntary, just as her earlier recitation of the Crime Bible scripture had been. She saw more images in her mind: a ruined tanker, a bald woman holding a knife to Elicia's throat, a man skewered on jagged metal, a crowd of Dark Faith acolytes kneeling before her.</p><p>Just as quickly she was back to reality, and pulled herself away, a look of shock and concern on her face. She held no ill will toward Elicia, not now, but just as she had felt lying on the floor less than an hour ago, whatever love she may have had toward Elicia in some other life, some other <em>universe</em>... that was no more, however strong the pull might be. She was spoken for now.</p><p>But as long as Elicia understood that... as long as she agreed to it... well, there could be room for some fun in time.</p><p>She rubbed the base of her throat, trying to calm herself, and whirled on Lois. "You <em>knew </em>about all this?" she demanded. There was no way. Lois was good, but she wasn't <em>that</em> good.</p><p>Lois grinned. "Let's say I had some suspicions when she first showed up as a maid," she said. "The attraction between you two was kinda hard to miss."</p><p><em>Bullshit</em>, Renee thought. <em>I've flirted with</em> you<em>, Lois, and you're straighter than a railway tie. And married.<br/></em></p><p>Besides, Elicia had been wearing an entirely different <em>face</em> at the time. A cute one, granted, but not that of Elicia. No, Renee had only been playing a role then, disguising her information gathering as flirting. Would Lois have thought the same thing if she'd seen Renee with the bartender before her first assassination attempt? That had been no different.</p><p>But then again... Lois <em>had</em> been right, ultimately. Even if her reasoning was suspect.</p><p>"...your Gotham trip confirmed my suspicions," Lois was saying.</p><p>Renee would've snorted had the news not been so surprising. Lois clearly didn't realize how Renee had spent her free time on that trip.</p><p>"Wait," Renee said, "does that mean <em>Batman </em>knows, too? About the splintering?"  Hell, would <em>Kate</em> know?</p><p>"That's why I sent you to him," said Lois. "Religion of Crime barely registers in this universe. In others it makes Intergang look like the Cub Scouts."</p><p>Renee thought back to the offer Kate had made her during that Gotham trip. She'd availed herself for just general help, but now... the Religion of Crime was her bag as much as anyone else here. It seemed unfair to leave her out now. But that would also require her to drop whatever she had going on and scramble to Chicago. Equally unfair, and less practical besides.</p><p>Renee had told Batman they'd handle this themselves, and, for better or worse... they would.</p><p>"Right," Lois was saying, leaning over a collection of case documents and photos spread out on the room's large writing desk, like a general surveying battle plans. "Gather 'round, take a seat, pour a coffee. It's not chance that brought you all together in this room. It was <em>me</em>." She gave a half-smirk, but her eyes stayed cold. "And now that you're here, we've got some stories that need telling..."</p>
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